Jessica Alba’s Honest Company has come under fire recently after some customers took to social media to complain about its sunscreen line.
Some users shared photos of their sunburned bodies, calling out the sunscreen as ineffective, despite the lotion claiming it has SPF 30, with “broad spectrum, mineral-based protection.”
“Don’t buy @Honest sunscreen unless u want to look like this. Second time I’ve tried this stuff and got fried,” a Twitter user shared.
Another user said he used the sunscreen and spent an hour outside and got burnt. He used the hashtags “#nothappy #red.”
Other users slammed the product on its Amazon page, saying it was the “worst burn I’ve had in years” and “honestly doesn’t work.”
“I put this stuff on 20 minutes before I went out in the sun and got destroyed. Absolutely hammered by the sun,” one user wrote.
The billion-dollar company issued a statement over the weekend, defending the safety of its products.
“The Honest Company is committed to providing safe and effective products, and we take all consumer feedback very seriously," the statement said via People magazine. "Our sunscreen lotion was tested, by an independent 3rd party, against the protocols prescribed by the U.S Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) monograph for over-the-counter sunscreen products. The results showed that our product is effective and safe for use as an 80 minute water-resistant (FDA’s highest rating), SPF 30 sunscreen lotion in accordance with FDA regulations when used as directed.”
The statement continued by saying that the number of complaints received on their site about the sunscreen lotion was less than one half of one percent of all units sold on the company’s website.
According to NBC Chicago, the FDA requires manufacturers to test their own products and does not verify the testing or require companies to share results.
The company said it changed the sunscreen formula in early 2015 – cutting the amount of zinc oxide from 20 percent to 9.3 percent – to “lessen whitening and to help ease application and feel,” the outlet said.
The company said it added other ingredients to keep it effective.
Dermatologist Marjorie Rosenbaum told NBC Chicago that consumers should not rely only on ingredient claims.
“All natural isn’t necessarily good. And ‘chemical’ isn’t necessarily bad,” she said. “I think sticking with the known products is probably a better idea than trying an off-label brand initially. They may be fine. But you don’t have the background or accountability and the years of some of these others.”
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